2012 campaign set to cost a record $6 billion

Mitt Romney and President Obama, the lead players in a campaign cycle that… (David Goldman / Associated…)

WASHINGTON — Accelerating spending by outside groups in the final weeks of the 2012 campaign will drive total spending on federal elections this cycle to a record $6 billion, according to a new analysis by the nonpartisan research group Center for Responsive Politics.

That tops the record set in 2008 by $700 million, making this campaign the most expensive in U.S history.

The major force behind the spending: hundreds of "super PACs" and advocacy groups, which proliferated after a series of federal court rulings in 2010 lifted the ban on corporate political activity and permitted wealthy donors to pool unlimited sums of money for election spending.

“We are in an entirely new environment,” said Sheila Krumholz, the group’s executive director.

In all, CRP estimates that expenditures by outside groups will reach more than $970 million this election. That’s more than three times the previous record of $301 million in 2008.

And the total does not include tens of millions of dollars spent by tax-exempt advocacy group on issue ads and other forms of voter outreach that do not have to be reported to the Federal Election Commission. Those organizations also do not have to report the sources of their funds, and their stepped-up influence this year has triggered calls for more transparency.

“It is confounding, because we have no idea how much we’re really seeing,” Krumholz said. “We know it’s some part of the iceberg. This is going to be a puzzle we put together over weeks and months to come.”

More than half of the money spent by outside groups has gone to efforts to influence the presidential race – spending that has rapidly picked up as election day approaches. In early September, super PACs and advocacy groups spent $19 million a week on their presidential efforts. By the week of Oct. 21, they were up to $70 million a week.

Republican challenger Mitt Romney has largely been the beneficiary of the involvement of outside groups, with more than three-quarters of the money spent on his behalf.

Overall, spending on this year’s presidential campaign is expected to be $2.6 billion, down slightly from $2.8 billion in 2008, when both parties had contested primaries.